I chose this book to read worried that maybe it wasn't for
me (being a woman) but I was wrong. It’s really a book for everyone. I was
hoping it might be helpful for me as a wife and mum of three boys and I was
right.
David Murrow has written ‘Why men hate going to church’ to
address the glaring problem in churches all over the world today; women
outnumber (sometimes by huge proportions) the men. His first section deals with
this issue, describing the problem and defining exactly why it’s a problem.
Part 2 (the best part in a book for me) analyses church
history (going as far back as the industrial revolution) and church culture.
Murrow demonstrates why and how the church is slowly but surely become more for
women, more about women, and more enjoyable for women.
Part three gives us plenty of strategies for what to
actually do about this problem. Murrow does a great job of reassuring his
readers that it is possible and a lot of his suggestions are quite simple; they
just require some intention to carry out. One of the highlights for me was
chapter 20 when Murrow says that the willingness of women to crossover to a
man’s role is important. For example, many women would happily attend a DIY
workshop at a hardware store or break into a male dominated career but most men
could not tolerate attending a knitting class or breaking into the nursing
profession! Because of the fact that women can ‘do’ masculine, Murrow asserts
that our churches should ditch the feminine aspects of our worship and embrace
the masculine.
I love this book. I especially loved that dissection of
church history from a gender specific point of view. I would recommend this to any Christian who wants to see the
men in their life follow Christ. I believe it is especially important for
church leaders and women to understand the concepts in this book. It is through
them that the church can become more effective in reaching men. Five stars from me.
Disclosure of Material Connection:
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